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If the universe is truly infinite, then somewhere there probably is another planet capable of supporting life as we know it. That doesn't mean I believe every claim of UFO sitings or alien abductions, or Escapes from Witch Mountain.

But seriously, of course there are other planets like ours. They are populated by whimsically different featured humanoids who are millions of years removed from our common ancestry, if any, but who despite their profound physical differences are sexually compatible with earthlings. But , of course, we are the prettiest and smartest of all the humanoids, which is why we get the good positions at Federation Of Planets.

Proxima Centauri is located just over 4 light years away, and is part of the triple-star Alpha Centauri system.

(snip)

In addition to being the closest star system to Earth, Alpha Centauri made headlines last year when an Earth-sized planet was discovered in orbit around Alpha Centauri B. That planet is far too hot to support life (it’s closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun), but raises the hope there may be other planets in the system.

3-4 light years away is a bit too far to travel considering the human life span and physiology.

Four boxes keep us free: the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.

Personally, I think there are some out there, and maybe inhabited. But there are so many factors involved that it's impossible to calculate the number.

Yeah, I think the number is vastly overestimated. to actually be 'Earth-like' in the sense of people living on or beneath its surface, it would have to be in the 'Liquid water' range from its primary, be of a mass that would be somewhere in the .75 - 1.25 gravity range, be old enough but young enough to have a tectonically-sound rocky crust to live on, but also a liquid outer core of nickel-iron to generate enough of a magnetic field to shield it from radiation, have a non-poisonous atmosphere and soil chemistry, have both surface land and surface water, and have a single large satellite to keep its angle of inclination locked to something in the range of 30 degrees or less from the plane of the ecliptic. I personally think this combination of factors is going to prove incredibly, incredibly rare.